Chair, gentlemen! To wonder now at Balaam’s ass were weak, It seems the custom for such animals to speak. Mr. WALTER STANLEY _resumes_. The point I wish to touch upon, if not amiss, is simply this— An evil very great prevails, on which some folks are often joking, I mean in sober seriousness the evil habit some boys have of smoking. I cannot walk in London through a street Unless some little rag-a-muffin boys I meet, Smoking their pipes; or if young gentlemen they are, Perhaps they sport a penny pickwick, or cigar. I fear that many honourable members will get warm At hearing that this habit needs a great reform. I will not say a word about the habit as indulged by men, Or raise the question of the “Counterblast” again; Let each man please himself who’s old enough to know Whether it’s good or bad, respectable or low. But if there is a thing that makes me sad, Or drives me into desperation, nearly mad, It is to see behind a great cigar A youngster who, if his good pa and ma Knew what the little fellow was about, Would quickly put their tempers, and his smoking, out. But arguments are needed; it will not take me long To find a backer to my statement that tobacco smoking’s wrong. And first—If I’d a puppy, and I wanted all to know That I could stop his growth and keep him low, In very early dog days I’d begin To dose the little fellow well with gin; And if I wished to enervate a boy, The fire and vigour of his life destroy, And all his brightness and his briskness mar, I’d daily give the little fellow a cigar. Second—To keep my dog respectable, I’d make him stay at home, He’d lose his character were he with other dogs to roam; He’d learn to fight and quarrel, bite and bark— Mr. A. MORTRAM. “It is their nature too.” Mr. WALTER STANLEY.